thevowel system ofcurrent britishenglishseas3.elte.hu/szigetva/papers/cube.pdf · thevowel system...

The vowel system of Current British English

Péter Szigetvári

Eötvös Loránd University, Budapestszigetvari�elte.hu

LingBaW 2, Lublin, 2014-11-07

the British English vowel inventory

(the Jones/Gimson(/Wells) tradition)

short monophthongs/checked vowels

KIT (i/I), DRESS (e), TRAP (æ), STRUT (2), LOT (O/6), FOOT (u/U)





long monophthongs/free vowel and R vowels

FLEECE (i:), START/BATH/PALM (A:), NURSE (@:/3:),

FORCE/NORTH/THOUGHT (O:), GOOSE (u:)








diphthongs/free vowels and R vowels

FACE (ei/eI), PRICE (ai/aI), CHOICE (Oi/OI)

GOAT (@u/@U), MOUTH (au/aU)

NEAR (i@/I@), SQUARE (E@/e@), CURE (u@/U@)












unstressedcommA/lettER (@)

the vowels under scrutiny:

“centring diphthongs”



long monophthongs/free vowels and R vowels








the vowels under scrutiny:

high “long monophthongs”



long monophthongs/free vowels and R vowels








on NEAR

Jones 1960: 113“Some of these words [ear, beard, here, weird, etc] have

alternative pronunciations with j@:”

on NEAR



Wells 1982: 361“The more conservative northern accents [. . . ] use disyllabic or

varisyllabic pronunciations of the type [fi:@] fear, [bi:@] beer,

which is best regarded as a phonemic sequence /i:@/.

Word-internally before /r/, in words such as serious, period,

these accents usually have simple /i:/ with no following /@/.”

on NEAR



Wells 1982: 361“The more conservative northern accents [. . . ] use disyllabic or

varisyllabic pronunciations of the type [fi:@] fear, [bi:@] beer,

which is best regarded as a phonemic sequence /i:@/.

Word-internally before /r/, in words such as serious, period,

these accents usually have simple /i:/ with no following /@/.”

Wells 2008: 173“Compression[: . . . before schwa] a long vowel or diphthong

changes: i: becomes I [. . . ]”

on SQUARE

Jones 1960: 113“E@, as I pronounce it, is a diphthong. . . ”

on SQUARE


Gimson 1989: 144“[a]nother form of advanced RP uses a pure long vowel [E:] [. . . ]

especially in a non-final syllable, e.g. careful”

on SQUARE


Gimson 1989: 144“[a]nother form of advanced RP uses a pure long vowel [E:] [. . . ]

especially in a non-final syllable, e.g. careful”

Wells 1982: 157“RP /E@/ often involves very little diphthongal movement [. . . ]

[i]n much English and southern-hemisphere speech, and in

Wales, the opposition exemplified by shed vs. shared is one of

duration rather than quality, [SEd] vs. [SE:d] etc.”

on FORCE

Jones 1960: 116“many speakers of Received English, myself among them, do

not use the diphthong O@ at all, but replace it always with O:”

on CURE and jewel

Jones 1960: 117

on CURE and jewel

Jones 1960: 117

◮ two categories: spelled (a) with r, (b) without r

on CURE and jewel

Jones 1960: 117


◮ category (a), eg cure: U@ → O@ → O:

on CURE and jewel

Jones 1960: 117



◮ category (b), eg jewel: U@ → u:@

on CURE and jewel

Jones 1960: 117




◮ Lindsey (2013): these could never have been merged

on CURE and jewel

Jones 1960: 117





Gimson 1989: 146monophtongization to @: is an option after j

on CURE and jewel

Jones 1960: 117





Gimson 1989: 146monophtongization to @: is an option after j

Wells 2008jury ÃU@ri Ã3:ri ÃO:ri

on FLEECE

Jones 1960: 65f“Many English people use a diphthong in place of a pure i:. The

diphthong begins with an open variety of i and moves to a

closer position; it may be represented by ii. or Ìi or ij [. . . ] [a]n

exaggerated diphthongal pronunciation sounds dialectal, an

extreme form of the diphthong being used in the local dialect

of London (Cockney)”

on FLEECE

Jones 1960: 65f“Many English people use a diphthong in place of a pure i:. The

diphthong begins with an open variety of i and moves to a

closer position; it may be represented by ii. or Ìi or ij [. . . ] [a]n

exaggerated diphthongal pronunciation sounds dialectal, an

extreme form of the diphthong being used in the local dialect

of London (Cockney)”

Gimson 1989: 101f“[t]he vowel is often noticeably diphthongized, especially in

final positions. A slight glide from a position near to [I] is

common amongst RP speakers, being more usual than a pure

vowel”

on GOOSE

Jones 1960: 85“Many English people diphthongize slightly the sound u:,

especially when final. The diphthongization takes the form of

a gradual increase of the lip-rounding; it may be symbolized

phonetically by uu. , Ñu, or uw.”

on GOOSE

Jones 1960: 85“Many English people diphthongize slightly the sound u:,

especially when final. The diphthongization takes the form of

a gradual increase of the lip-rounding; it may be symbolized

phonetically by uu. , Ñu, or uw.”

Gimson 1989: 121“Just as RP /i:/ is rarely pure, so RP /u:/ is usually

diphthongized, [Uu] or [uw], especially in final position.”

vowel phonotactics

C # V

vowel phonotactics

C # V

A I e æ 2 6 U X ✗ ✗

A checked vowels: short monophthongs except schwa

vowel phonotactics

C # V

A I e æ 2 6 U X ✗ ✗

B A: O: 3: @ I@ e@ U@ X X ✗


B R vowels: three long monophthongs + schwa + three

diphthongs

vowel phonotactics

C # V

A I e æ 2 6 U X ✗ ✗

B A: O: 3: @ I@ e@ U@ X X ✗

C i: eI aI OI aU @U u: X X X


B R vowels: three long monophthongs + schwa + three

diphthongs

C free vowels: two long monophthongs + five diphthongs

the proposal

FLEECE and GOOSE

are diphthongs: /flIis/ and /g8us/

the proposal

FLEECE and GOOSE


NEAR, SQUARE, and CURE

are monophthongs: /nI:/, /skwE:/, and /kj8:/ or /kjO:/

the proposal

FLEECE and GOOSE




especially word finally

NEAR may have a bisyllabic pronunciation: /nIi@/

the proposal

FLEECE and GOOSE




especially word finally

NEAR may have a bisyllabic pronunciation: /nIi@/

cf here it is /hI:r It Iz/ vs it’s here /Its hI:/ or /Its hIi@/

consequences (once again)

checked vowels (only C)

are the short monophthongs (except schwa)




R vowels ( C and #, but * V)

are the long monophthongs and schwa




R vowels ( C and #, but * V)

are the long monophthongs and schwa

free vowels (anywhere)

are the diphthongs

pre-R “long” vowels

no R“input”

compression/smoothing

influence old new

free vowel free V+@centring long

diphthong monophth.

NEAR Ii.@ I@ I:

CURE Uu.@ U@/O@ 8:/O:/3:

SQUARE Ei.@ E@ E:

FORCE Ou.@ O@ O:

fire ai.@ a@ a:

hour au.@ a@ a:

hero Ii I@ I:

fury 8u U@ O:/3:

dairy E@ E:

glory O@ O:

virus ai a:

dowry au a:

further categories

CC stressed

B1 A: O: 3: X X

B2 @ X ✗

B3 I: E: 8: ✗ X

the vowel inventory of Current British English

CC C # V str.d

checked I E a 2 O 8 X X ✗ ✗ X

broad A: o: @: X X X ✗ X

R vowels schwa @ X X X ✗ ✗

smooth I: E: 8: ✗ X X ✗ X

free Ii Ei Ai oi au @u 0u X X X X X

the vowel inventory of Current British English

CC C # V str.d

checked I E a 2 O 8 X X ✗ ✗ X

broad A: o: @: X X X ✗ X

R vowels schwa @ X X X ✗ ✗

smooth I: E: 8: ✗ X X ✗ X

free Ii Ei Ai oi au @u 0u X X X X X

correspondences

◮ checked vowels = short monophthongs (except schwa)

◮ broad vowels = nonhigh and nonfront long

monophthongs

◮ smooth vowels = high or front long monophthongs

◮ free vowels = diphthongs

acknowledgements & references

Many of the transcription symbols were proposed by Geoff Lindseyat englishspeechservices.com/blog/british-vowels, with whom Ideveloped the CUBE dictionary (seas3.elte.hu/cube).I was supported by OTKA (the Hungarian Science Research Fund).

references

◮ Gimson, Alfred Charles. 1989. An Introduction to the Pronunciation ofEnglish (4th ed., revised by Susan Ramsaran). London: Edward Arnold.

◮ Jones, Daniel. 1960. An Outline of English Phonetics (9th ed.).Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

◮ Lindsey, Geoff. 2013. The merger that never quite was. Posted2013-10-02, retrieved 2014-09-21 fromenglishspeechservices.com/blog/the-merger-that-never-quite-was

◮ Wells, John Christopher. 1982. Accents of English. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.

◮ Wells, John Christopher. 2008. Longman Pronunciation Dictionary(3rd ed.). Harlow: Pearson Longman.

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